PENPIX: Main figures in British political shake-up

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his ministerial team on Friday.

Here are portraits of major Labour Party figures who kept their jobs or were given a new role in government.

ALAN JOHNSON

The man tipped by many to be Brown's most likely successor has moved from the health department to the Home Office, responsible for policing, immigration and counter-terrorism.

"I am flattered that people think highly of me. I want them to think highly of me as a home secretary (interior minister) in a Labour government serving under the prime minister," he told the BBC after accepting his new role.

A guitar-playing former postman, Johnson, 59, is portrayed as a man of the people who could help Labour reconnect with its working class roots. Orphaned at the age of 12, his elder sister brought him up in a state-owned flat in London. He worked as a supermarket shelf-stacker before becoming a trade union leader.

Johnson's easy style impresses supporters, but critics say he is vague on policy.

ALISTAIR DARLING

The 55-year-old held onto his position as finance minister after intense speculation he would be replaced in the reshuffle, possibly by Brown's ally Ed Balls. The prime minister had referred to Darling in the past tense during interviews.

Darling had resisted pressure to step aside after apologizing for over claiming expenses on a property in London.

Before being caught in the row that has shaken parliament, Darling was known as a "safe pair of hands" with a dry wit. He has won praise for his handling of the economic crisis.

Born in London and educated in Scotland, Darling trained as a lawyer and first entered parliament in 1987.

LIAM BYRNE

A close ally of Brown, the 38-year-old will become chief secretary to the Treasury, the number two finance ministry post, replacing Yvette Cooper, the new work and pensions secretary.

Byrne's appointment ensures that a loyalist takes control of a post involved in interdepartmental spending negotiations.

After a stint as immigration minister, he was given the job of minister for the Cabinet Office, a senior role working as an "enforcer" of Brown's policies.

He has worked as a technology entrepreneur and for bankers NM Rothschild. He lists his interests as running half marathons, learning to surf and studying English church architecture.

ED BALLS

Brown's former right-hand man at the Treasury, Balls will stay on as children's secretary after a much-vaunted move to head up the finance ministry failed to materialize.

Balls, 42, was educated at Oxford and Harvard and worked as a leader writer and columnist at the Financial Times. He is married to Yvette Cooper, the new work and pensions secretary.

In an interview with New Statesman magazine in March, Balls said: "I am not going to say that I don't want to be leader of the Labour Party. But if I ended my political career not being (leader), would that be a failure? Absolutely not."

DAVID MILIBAND

The man nicknamed "Brains" by Blair's former spokesman will stay on as foreign secretary, a role he accepted at the age of 41, the youngest in the post since David Owen in 1977.

Miliband appeared to resist attempts to move him from the Foreign Office, saying: "I am focusing on my job. I have got four more years until I beat (postwar foreign secretary) Ernie Bevin as the longest-serving foreign minister."

After Blair stood down as prime minister in 2007, Miliband was touted as a possible challenger to Brown for the top job. He was also briefly linked to a leadership challenge last year before dismissing the media reports.

PETER MANDELSON

Nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness" for his mastery of political spin, Mandelson helped bring Labour back to power in 1997 after 18 years in the wilderness.

The business secretary will keep his job after being named in the media as a possible replacement for Miliband in the foreign office.

The former European Union trade commissioner returned to government in October 2008 after twice having to resign from Tony Blair's cabinet.

Mandelson, 55, a friend of Blair, has taken a lead role in defending Brown during the escalating expenses row and the resignation of senior ministers.

PETER HAIN

The former work and pensions secretary returns to government as Welsh secretary after resigning "to clear his name" in 2008 during a police investigation into political donations he had failed to declare.

Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to charge Hain and parliament's standards watchdog ruled there had been "no intention to deceive."

However, the watchdog said Hain's failure to declare donations worth 100,000 pounds for his failed bid to become deputy leader of the Labour Party was "both serious and substantial" and told him to apologize to parliament.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, and brought up in South Africa, Hain came to Britain in 1966 as a teenager after his parents were forced out of white-ruled South Africa for opposing apartheid.

BOB AINSWORTH

The armed forces minister has been promoted to replace John Hutton as defense secretary, who oversees troops serving in Afghanistan.

Ainsworth, 56, entered politics in 1992 after working as a sheet metal worker and trade union official at the Jaguar car plant in Coventry, central England.

He previously worked as a government whip, or parliamentary enforcer, and as an interior minister with responsibility for drugs and organized crime.

YVETTE COOPER

The former Treasury minister replaces James Purnell, the rising Labour star who quit as work and pensions secretary on Thursday with a surprise call for Brown to resign.

Born in Scotland, Cooper's father was a trade union leader and her mother a maths teacher. She was educated at Oxford, Harvard and the London School of Economics before launching her political career as an advisor to Labour and Bill Clinton.

Cooper, 40, also wrote editorials and economic columns for the Independent newspaper and is close family friend of Brown.

(Sources: UK government, Reuters archives, MPs' websites)

(Reporting by London Bureau's Peter Griffiths and David Cutler, from the London Editorial Reference Unit)